Houston vs Dallas - Infrastructure (San Antonio, Anton: centers, airports, manufacturing)

[TexasTallest]

Since most threads in the Texas forum get turned into Houston vs Dallas threads, i figured there was no point trying to avoid it. This should be a good comparison IMO because Houston has the better highway system, but Dallas has more light rail.

Discuss.

[love roses]

That's a tough call. I want to say Houston, but think for reasons you just stated, I'll go with Dallas.

[dallasboi]

Dallas.

[feufoma]

It's easier to get around Houston so the answer is clear. I like that new trench bridge in D though.

[Trae713]

Houston has a better highway system, more roads and a larger grid. Dallas has more miles of light rail and its roads are in better shape.

[TexasVines]

Houston

the freeways are in way better shape....the freeways make way more sense in how they are laid out and where they go.....Houston paves with concrete VS asphalt....the light rail in Houston actually goes places where people want to go and the massively higher ridership per mile reflects this......the stadiums are more centrally located and in general because Houston is a large city (VS a large metro area with a bunch of medium cities all competing with each other) Houston is better able to plan and execute for the long term

"dallas" is far from being the entire metroplex, dallas proper has a 28% vacancy rate downtown, dallas proper gets further and further from the center of the metroplex every year, and dallas proper becomes a smaller and smaller player in the overall metroplex every year even though they are too dumb to realize this and still try and pretend as though the metroplex revolves around dallas proper.......which is why they have a light rail system that is designed to get people downtown where the vast majority of metroplex jobs ARE NOT and never will be because you can't have large tilt wall distribution complexes, massive logistics hubs, and other infrastructure for the movement of goods produced somewhere else right in the heart of a downtown area......which helps explain why most of the growth in the metromess is to the north west and far north where there is plenty of room for the logistics infrastructure and where the airports and rail yards are located

and Houston still has a better overall railroad infrastructure as well and of course a much better port system that gets better every year....so Houston is is clearly ahead by miles and miles especially if you are comparing to "dallas" proper.....and Houston has vastly superior leadership even if you don't actually like some of the leadership and Harris County is light years ahead of dallas county in leadership

[marcopolo2000]

Originally Posted by TexasVines

Houston

the freeways are in way better shape....the freeways make way more sense in how they are laid out and where they go.....Houston paves with concrete VS asphalt....the light rail in Houston actually goes places where people want to go and the massively higher ridership per mile reflects this......the stadiums are more centrally located and in general because Houston is a large city (VS a large metro area with a bunch of medium cities all competing with each other) Houston is better able to plan and execute for the long term

"dallas" is far from being the entire metroplex, dallas proper has a 28% vacancy rate downtown, dallas proper gets further and further from the center of the metroplex every year, and dallas proper becomes a smaller and smaller player in the overall metroplex every year even though they are too dumb to realize this and still try and pretend as though the metroplex revolves around dallas proper.......which is why they have a light rail system that is designed to get people downtown where the vast majority of metroplex jobs ARE NOT and never will be because you can't have large tilt wall distribution complexes, massive logistics hubs, and other infrastructure for the movement of goods produced somewhere else right in the heart of a downtown area......which helps explain why most of the growth in the metromess is to the north west and far north where there is plenty of room for the logistics infrastructure and where the airports and rail yards are located

and Houston still has a better overall railroad infrastructure as well and of course a much better port system that gets better every year....so Houston is is clearly ahead by miles and miles especially if you are comparing to "dallas" proper.....and Houston has vastly superior leadership even if you don't actually like some of the leadership and Harris County is light years ahead of dallas county in leadership

you can't possibly be serious.

Anyway, Dallas wins this due to light rail. I don't know whats so great about Houston's highways. They layout is fine but the roads are terrible. Besides maybe San Antonio, I haven't seen more poorly maintained highways in a metro.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by Trae713

Houston has a better highway system, more roads and a larger grid. Dallas has more miles of light rail and its roads are in better shape.

Dallas' roads are full of potholes. Ever driven on Stemmons & I-35 East?

North Texas' soil (black clay) is terrible & foundation problems are an ongoing issue for homeowners. Nolan Ryan is the Olshan man you know.

[TX75007]

Originally Posted by marcopolo2000

you can't possibly be serious.

Anyway, Dallas wins this due to light rail. I don't know whats so great about Houston's highways. They layout is fine but the roads are terrible. Besides maybe San Antonio, I haven't seen more poorly maintained highways in a metro.

Light rail in DFW has such a small percentage of the total passenger miles, it is nearly unmeasurable. Light Rail is also not important as it does not carry freight. Overall, light rail is probably a drag on the region's economy due to the resources taken from the public to support it.

In any case, Houston is into heavy industry and has DFW beat in spades in this area - not to mention the port, rail, and oil/gas facilities. And with the Panama canal widening nearly done, Houston will become even more important.

DFW is in the process of revamping the area's interchanges and both DFW and Love Field carry a ton of flights not to mention Alliance, which continues to attract manufacturing. Dallas also has a number of fabs and a very good fiber and power infrastructure and it is not on the Coast.

So, its really hard to say. Oil and gas? Heavy industry. Go to Houston.

Electronics, software, services, data centers - come to Dallas.

[dallasboi]

Dallas